UFH January 2021 Portrait

CAAA: Clemson Area The Universe From Here: January 2021 Amateur Astronomers Here There Be Monsters monster’s tail, but “mouth” better fits the I love star gazing in January. It may be cold, modern whale-like appearance!) but hot coffee and several layers of clothing A dim trapezoid of stars to the east forms the solves this. Also wearing a face-mask not only back of the body, and a pentagon of stars to the prevents Covid-19 spread, but also keeps my face north-east forms the tail fin. warm - multi-purpose! This month we’ll look back at the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction, then tackle January’s “monster-challenge.” CETUS CAAA Observers’ Report Driving around Clemson, SC on December 21st to find a dark spot to watch the conjunction, I was struck by the number of individuals, binoculars in- Cetus has many interesting deep sky objects, hand, who were camped out on hills, parking lots, several accessible with small telescopes. Here etc with the same intent. I settled on a spot along are some highlights: the 12-Mile River with an unobstructed view of M77 (Cetus A) is a conspicuous barred-spiral the western horizon. With my 12-inch Dobsonian galaxy near the tail of Cetus, east of the star set up conveniently next to a cement picnic table, Delta-Ceti. NASA reports that M77 is 45 million I made several sketches and took several iphone- lightyears from earth. to-eyepiece pictures. NGC 936 is a “barred lenticular galaxy” that can Meanwhile, CAAA members Ram, Stan, Chuck, and be found by star hopping south from the Delta- several guests braved the wind and cold at the Ceti. It has been dubbed The Darth Vader Galaxy “top-o-the-mountain” in Mountain Rest. Three because it looks like the Star Wars character’s tie- scopes were set up, and although high winds and fighter. (See image, next page) the resulting poor-seeing resulted in fuzzy images, NGC 246 (The Skull Nebula) is a planetary nebula the proximity of the planets was still amazing to appearing between and below the stars Eta- and behold. Anne watched a live feed while Iota-Ceti. It’s pretty dim, but its ghostly image is vacationing out west where clouds blocked her visible with an oxygen 3 filter. view. Two distinct objects, the globular cluster NGC In other news, I had the honor of providing a 288 and the relatively nearby “Sculptor Galaxy” virtual outreach on stellar navigation to 14 NGC 253 appear close together below Cetus. members of the Boating Club on Lake Keowee. (Both are actually in Constellation Sculptor.) The Dec 2020 newsletter summarizes the material we covered. January’s Solar System January’s Challenge: CETUS The Sun became more active last month with Cetus is the 4th largest constellation in the sky. several sun spots visible. If you have a sun-filter The whale-shaped group of stars was named for or solar-scope, its worth getting out during the the mythical sea-monster sent by Poseidon to day to check it out. Never look directly at the ravage King Cepheus’ kingdom because his wife sun without the proper gear! Cassiopeia’s vanity angered the sea nymphs. To Mars is still well placed overhead. On either side appease the gods, they sacrificed their daughter of Mars, along the ecliptic path, you can find the Andromeda to the monster; but Perseus rescued ice giants Neptune and Uranus. Neptune, the 8th her and killed Cetus instead. planet in the solar system, can be seen with a This month, Cetus appears straight south after telescope near star Phi-Aquarii. Uranus, the 7th sunset (see map). To find it, start in the planet, appears near Mars in a dark area of sky southwest at the lone bright star Fomalhaut. above Cetus’ tail fin. Move northeastward until you find the star Deneb The New Moon will be on Jan 13 and the Full Kaitos (Beta-Ceti). (Deneb Kaitos means the “Wolf” Moon will be on Jan 28. By Jim Feiste ([email protected]) CAAA: Clemson Area The Universe From Here: January 2021 Amateur Astronomers Here There Be Monsters

Sky Map, facing south after sunset in early Jan 2020: Constellation Cetus and the planets (from east to west) Uranus, Mars, and Neptune

NORTH

EAST WEST

SOUTH

NGC 936: “The Darth Vader Galaxy” Type: “Barred Lenticular Galaxy” Apparent Magnitude (vm): 10.2 Distance from Earth: 60 million lightyears Located in the Constellation Cetus Forms a galaxy group which is also associated with the M77 Group. (Source: Wikipedia)